3.as a man thinketh

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AS A MAN THINKETH: Table of Contents

OME SPIRITUAL FREEDOM LIBRARY

AS A MAN THINKETH

BY

JAMES ALLEN

AUTHOR OF

"FROM POVERTY TO POWER," "ALL THESE THINGS ADDED,"

"OUT FROM THE HEART," ETC--

Mind is the Master--power that moulds and makes

And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes

The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,

Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:

He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass,

Environment is but his looking-glass.

FOURTEENTH EDITION

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LONDON

L. N. FOWLER & CO.

7 IMPERIAL ARCADE, LUDGATE CIRCUS, E C. 4

FOREWORD

THIS little volume (the result of meditation and

experience) is not intended as an exhaustive treatise on the

much written-upon subject of the power of thought. It is

suggestive rather than explanatory, its object being to

stimulate men and women to the discovery and perception of

the truth that--

"They themselves are makers of themselves."

By virtue of the thoughts, which they choose and

encourage; that mind is the master-weaver, both of the inner

garment of character and the outer garment of circumstance,

and that, as they may have hitherto woven in ignorance and

pain they may now weave in enlightenment and happiness.

JAMES ALLEN.BROAD PARK AVENUE,

ILFRACOMBE,

ENGLAND

CONTENTS

THOUGHT AND CHARACTER

EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON CIRCUMSTANCES

EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON HEALTH AND THE B0DY



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THOUGHT AND PURPOSE

THE THOUGHT-FACTOR IN ACHIEVEMENT

VISIONS AND IDEALS

SERENITY

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AS A MAN THINKETH: Thought and Character

OME SPIRITUAL FREEDOM LIBRARY TABLE OF CONTENTS

THOUGHT AND CHARACTER

THE aphorism, "As a man thinketh in his heart so

is he," not only embraces the whole of a man's being,

but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every

condition and circumstance of his life. A man is

literally what he thinks, his character being the

complete sum of all his thoughts.

As the plant springs from, and could not be

without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from

the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have

appeared without them. This applies equally to those

acts called "spontaneous" and "unpremeditated " as

to those, which are deliberately executed.

Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and

suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the

sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.

Thought in the mind hath made us,

What we are.

By thought was wrought and built.

If a man's mind

Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him

as comes

The wheel the ox behind. . .

'If one endure

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In purity of thought,

joy follows him

As his own shadow sure.

Man is a growth by law, and not a creation by

artifice, and cause and effect is as absolute and

undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in theworld of visible and material things. A noble and

Godlike character is not a thing of favour or chance,

but is the natural result of continued effort in right

thinking, the effect of long-cherished association

with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and bestial

character, by the same process, is the result of the

continued harbouring of grovelling thoughts.

Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armoury

of thought he forges the weapons by which he

destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with

which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of

joy and strength and peace. By the right choice and

true application of thought, man ascends to the

Divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong

application of thought, he descends below the levelof the beast. Between these two extremes are all the

grades of character, and man is their maker and

master.

Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul

which have been restored and brought to light in this

age, none is more gladdening or fruitful of divine

promise and confidence than this--that man is themaster of thought, the moulder of character, and the

maker and shaper of condition, environment, and

destiny.

As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and

the lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to



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every situation, and contains within himself that

transforming and regenerative agency by which he

may make himself what he wills.

Man is always the master, even in his weaker and

most abandoned state; but in his weakness and

degradation he is the foolish master who misgovernshis "household." When he begins to reflect upon his

condition, and to search diligently for the Law upon

which his being is established, he then becomes the

wise master, directing his energies with intelligence,

and fashioning his thoughts to fruitful issues. Such is

the conscious master, and man can only thus become

by discovering within himself the laws of thought;

which discovery is totally a matter of application,self analysis, and experience.

Only by much searching and mining, are gold and

diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth

connected with his being, if he will dig deep into the

mine of his soul ; and that he is the maker of his

character, the moulder of his life, and the builder of

his destiny, he may unerringly prove, if he willwatch, control, and alter his thoughts, tracing their

effects upon himself, upon others, and upon his life

and circumstances, linking cause and effect by

patient practice and investigation, and utilizing his

every experience, even to the most trivial, everyday

occurrence, as a means of obtaining that knowledge

of himself which is Understanding, Wisdom, Power.

In this direction, as in no other, is the law absolutethat "He that seeketh findeth; and to him that

knocketh it shall be opened; " for only by patience,

practice, and ceaseless importunity can a man enter

the Door of the Temple of Knowledge.



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AS A MAN THINKETH: Effect of Thought on Circumstances


EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON

CIRCUMSTANCES

MAN'S mind may be likened to a garden, which

may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run

wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must,

and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds areput into

it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds willfalltherein, and will continue to produce their kind.

Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free

from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits

which he requires, so may a man tend the garden of

his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless, and

impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection

the flowers and fruits of right, useful, and purethoughts. By pursuing this process, a man sooner or

later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his

soul, the director of his life. He also reveals, within

himself, the laws of thought, and understands, with

ever-increasing accuracy, how the thought-forces

and mind elements operate in the shaping of his

character, circumstances, and destiny.

Thought and character are one, and as character

can only manifest and discover itself through

environment and circumstance, the outer conditions

of a person's life will always be found to be

harmoniously related to his inner state. This does not

mean that a man's circumstances at any given time

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are an indication of his entire character, but that

those circumstances are so intimately connected with

some vital thought-element within himself that, for

the time being, they are indispensable to his

development.

Every man is where he is by the law of his being;the thoughts which he has built into his character

have brought him there, and in the arrangement of

his life there is no element of chance, but all is the

result of a law which cannot err. This is just as true

of those who feel "out of harmony" with their

surroundings as of those who are contented with

them.

As a progressive and evolving being, man is where

he is that he may learn that he may grow; and as he

learns the spiritual lesson which any circumstance

contains for him, it passes away and gives place to

other circumstances.

Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he

believes himself to be the creature of outsideconditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative

power, and that he may command the hidden soil and

seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow,

he then becomes the rightful master of himself.

That circumstances grow out of thought every man

knows who has for any length of time practised self-

control and self-purification, for he will have noticedthat the alteration in his circumstances has been in

exact ratio with his altered mental condition. So true

is this that when a man earnestly applies himself to

remedy the defects in his character, and makes swift

and marked progress, he passes rapidly through a

succession of vicissitudes.



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The soul attracts that which it secretly harbours;

that which it loves, and also that which it fears; it

reaches the height of its cherished aspirations; it falls

to the level of its unchastened desires,--and

circumstances are the means by which the soul

receives its own.

Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the

mind, and to take root there, produces its own,

blossoming sooner or later into act, and bearing its

own fruitage of opportunity and circumstance. Good

thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.

The outer world of circumstance shapes itself to

the inner world of thought, and both pleasant andunpleasant external conditions are factors, which

make for the ultimate good of the individual. As the

reaper of his own harvest, man learns both by

suffering and bliss.

Following the inmost desires, aspirations, thoughts,

by which he allows himself to be dominated,

(pursuing the will-o'-the-wisps of impure imaginings

or steadfastly walking the highway of strong and

high endeavour), a man at last arrives at their fruition

and fulfilment in the outer conditions of his life. The

laws of growth and adjustment everywhere obtains.

A man does not come to the pothouse or the gaol

by the tyranny of fate or circumstance, but by the

pathway of grovelling thoughts and base desires. Nor

does a pure-minded man fall suddenly into crime by

stress of any mere external force; the criminal

thought had long been secretly fostered in the heart,

and the hour of opportunity revealed its gathered

power. Circumstance does not make the man; it

reveals him to himself No such conditions can exist



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as descending into vice and its attendant sufferings

apart from vicious inclinations, or ascending into

virtue and its pure happiness without the continued

cultivation of virtuous aspirations; and man,

therefore, as the lord and master of thought, is the

maker of himself the shaper and author of

environment. Even at birth the soul comes to its ownand through every step of its earthly pilgrimage it

attracts those combinations of conditions which

reveal itself, which are the reflections of its own

purity and, impurity, its strength and weakness.

Men do not attract that which they want, but that

which they are. Their whims, fancies, and ambitions

are thwarted at every step, but their inmost thoughtsand desires are fed with their own food, be it foul or

clean. The "divinity that shapes our ends" is in

ourselves; it is our very self. Only himself manacles

man: thought and action are the gaolers of Fate--they

imprison, being base; they are also the angels of

Freedom--they liberate, being noble. Not what he

wishes and prays for does a man get, but what he

justly earns. His wishes and prayers are onlygratified and answered when they harmonize with his

thoughts and actions.

In the light of this truth, what, then, is the meaning

of "fighting against circumstances?" It means that a

man is continually revolting against an effect

without, while all the time he is nourishing and

preserving its cause in his heart. That cause may takethe form of a conscious vice or an unconscious

weakness; but whatever it is, it stubbornly retards the

efforts of its possessor, and thus calls aloud for

remedy.

Men are anxious to improve their circumstances,



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but are unwilling to improve themselves; they

therefore remain bound. The man who does not

shrink from self-crucifixion can never fail to

accomplish the object upon which his heart is set.

This is as true of earthly as of heavenly things. Even

the man whose sole object is to acquire wealth must

be prepared to make great personal sacrifices beforehe can accomplish his object; and how much more so

he who would realize a strong and well-poised life?

Here is a man who is wretchedly poor. He is

extremely anxious that his surroundings and home

comforts should be improved, yet all the time he

shirks his work, and considers he is justified in trying

to deceive his employer on the ground of theinsufficiency of his wages. Such a man does not

understand the simplest rudiments of those principles

which are the basis of true prosperity, and is not only

totally unfitted to rise out of his wretchedness, but is

actually attracting to himself a still deeper

wretchedness by dwelling in, and acting out,

indolent, deceptive, and unmanly thoughts.

Here is a rich man who is the victim of a painful

and persistent disease as the result of gluttony. He is

willing to give large sums of money to get rid of it,

but he will not sacrifice his gluttonous desires. He

wants to gratify his taste for rich and unnatural

viands and have his health as well. Such a man is

totally unfit to have health, because he has not yet

learned the first principles of a healthy life.

Here is an employer of labour who adopts crooked

measures to avoid paying the regulation wage, and,

in the hope of making larger profits, reduces the

wages of his workpeople. Such a man is altogether

unfitted for prosperity, and when he finds himself



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bankrupt, both as regards reputation and riches, he

blames circumstances, not knowing that he is the

sole author of his condition.

I have introduced these three cases merely as

illustrative of the truth that man is the causer (though

nearly always is unconsciously) of his circumstances,and that, whilst aiming at a good end, he is

continually frustrating its accomplishment by

encouraging thoughts and desires which cannot

possibly harmonize with that end. Such cases could

be multiplied and varied almost indefinitely, but this

is not necessary, as the reader can, if he so resolves,

trace the action of the laws of thought in his own

mind and life, and until this is done, mere externalfacts cannot serve as a ground of reasoning.

Circumstances, however, are so complicated,

thought is so deeply rooted, and the conditions of

happiness vary so, vastly with individuals, that a

man's entire soul-condition (although it may be

known to himself) cannot be judged by another from

the external aspect of his life alone. A man may behonest in certain directions, yet suffer privations; a

man may be dishonest in certain directions, yet

acquire wealth; but the conclusion usually formed

that the one man fails because of his particular

honesty, and that the otherprospers because of his

particular dishonesty, is the result of a superficial

judgment, which assumes that the dishonest man is

almost totally corrupt, and the honest man almostentirely virtuous. In the light of a deeper knowledge

and wider experience such judgment is found to be

erroneous. The dishonest man may have some

admirable virtues, which the other does, not possess;

and the honest man obnoxious vices which are

absent in the other. The honest man reaps the good



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results of his honest thoughts and acts; he also brings

upon himself the sufferings, which his vices produce.

The dishonest man likewise garners his own

suffering and happiness.

It is pleasing to human vanity to believe that one

suffers because of one's virtue; but not until a manhas extirpated every sickly, bitter, and impure

thought from his mind, and washed every sinful stain

from his soul, can he be in a position to know and

declare that his sufferings are the result of his good,

and not of his bad qualities; and on the way to, yet

long before he has reached, that supreme perfection,

he will have found, working in his mind and life, the

Great Law which is absolutely just, and whichcannot, therefore, give good for evil, evil for good.

Possessed of such knowledge, he will then know,

looking back upon his past ignorance and blindness,

that his life is, and always was, justly ordered, and

that all his past experiences, good and bad, were the

equitable outworking of his evolving, yet unevolved

self.

Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad

results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce

good results. This is but saying that nothing can

come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but

nettles. Men understand this law in the natural world,

and work with it; but few understand it in the mental

and moral world (though its operation there is just as

simple and undeviating), and they, therefore, do notco-operate with it.

Suffering is always the effect of wrong thought in

some direction. It is an indication that the individual

is out of harmony with himself, with the Law of his

being. The sole and supreme use of suffering is to



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purify, to burn out all that is useless and impure.

Suffering ceases for him who is pure. There could be

no object in burning gold after the dross had been

removed, and a perfectly pure and enlightened being

could not suffer.

The circumstances, which a man encounters withsuffering, are the result of his own mental in

harmony. The circumstances, which a man

encounters with blessedness, are the result of his own

mental harmony. Blessedness, not material

possessions, is the measure of right thought;

wretchedness, not lack of material possessions, is the

measure of wrong thought. A man may be cursed

and rich; he may be blessed and poor. Blessednessand riches are only joined together when the riches

are rightly and wisely used; and the poor man only

descends into wretchedness when he regards his lot

as a burden unjustly imposed.

Indigence and indulgence are the two extremes of

wretchedness. They are both equally unnatural and

the result of mental disorder. A man is not rightlyconditioned until he is a happy, healthy, and

prosperous being; and happiness, health, and

prosperity are the result of a harmonious adjustment

of the inner with the outer, of the man with his

surroundings.

A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to

whine and revile, and commences to search for thehidden justice which regulates his life. And as he

adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases to

accuse others as the cause of his condition, and

builds himself up in strong and noble thoughts;

ceases to kick against circumstances, but begins to

use them as aids to his more rapid progress, and as a



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means of discovering the hidden powers and

possibilities within himself.

Law, not confusion, is the dominating principle in

the universe; justice, not injustice, is the soul and

substance of life; and righteousness, not corruption,

is the moulding and moving force in the spiritualgovernment of the world. This being so, man has but

to right himself to find that the universe is right; and

during the process of putting himself right he will

find that as he alters his thoughts towards things and

other people, things and other people will alter

towards him.

The proof of this truth is in every person, and ittherefore admits of easy investigation by systematic

introspection and self-analysis. Let a man radically

alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the

rapid transformation it will effect in the material

conditions of his life. Men imagine that thought can

be kept secret, but it cannot; it rapidly crystallizes

into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance.

Bestial thoughts crystallize into habits ofdrunkenness and sensuality, which solidify into

circumstances of destitution and disease: impure

thoughts of every kind crystallize into enervating and

confusing habits, which solidify into distracting and

adverse circumstances: thoughts of fear, doubt, and

indecision crystallize into weak, unmanly, and

irresolute habits, which solidify into circumstances

of failure, indigence, and slavish dependence: lazythoughts crystallize into habits of uncleanliness and

dishonesty, which solidify into circumstances of

foulness and beggary: hateful and condemnatory

thoughts crystallize into habits of accusation and

violence, which solidify into circumstances of injury

and persecution: selfish thoughts of all kinds



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crystallize into habits of self-seeking, which solidify

into circumstances more or less distressing. On the

other hand, beautiful thoughts of all kinds crystallize

into habits of grace and kindliness, which solidify

into genial and sunny circumstances: pure thoughts

crystallize into habits of temperance and self-control,

which solidify into circumstances of repose andpeace: thoughts of courage, self-reliance, and

decision crystallize into manly habits, which solidify

into circumstances of success, plenty, and freedom:

energetic thoughts crystallize into habits of

cleanliness and industry, which solidify into

circumstances of pleasantness: gentle and forgiving

thoughts crystallize into habits of gentleness, which

solidify into protective and preservativecircumstances: loving and unselfish thoughts

crystallize into habits of self-forgetfulness for others,

which solidify into circumstances of sure and abiding

prosperity and true riches.

A particular train of thought persisted in, be it good

or bad, cannot fail to produce its results on the

character and circumstances. A man cannot directlychoose his circumstances, but he can choose his

thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his

circumstances.

Nature helps every man to the gratification of the

thoughts, which he most encourages, and

opportunities are presented which will most speedily

bring to the surface both the good and evil thoughts.

Let a man cease from his sinful thoughts, and all

the world will soften towards him, and be ready to

help him; let him put away his weakly and sickly

thoughts, and lo, opportunities will spring up on

every hand to aid his strong resolves; let him



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encourage good thoughts, and no hard fate shall bind

him down to wretchedness and shame. The world is

your kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of

colours, which at every succeeding moment it

presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures

of your ever-moving thoughts.

"So You will be what you will to be;

Let failure find its false content

In that poor word, I environment,

But spirit scorns it, and is free.

"It masters time, it conquers space;

It cowes that boastful trickster, Chance,

And bids the tyrant CircumstanceUncrown, and fill a servant's place.

"The human Will, that force unseen,

The offspring of a deathless Soul,

Can hew a way to any goal,

Though walls of granite intervene.

"Be not impatient in delaysBut wait as one who understands;

When spirit rises and commands

The gods are ready to obey."

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AS A MAN THINKETH: Effect of Thought on the Body


EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON HEALTH

AND THE BODY

THE body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the

operations of the mind, whether they be deliberately

chosen or automatically expressed. At the bidding of

unlawful thoughts the body sinks rapidly into disease

and decay; at the command of glad and beautifulthoughts it becomes clothed with youthfulness and

beauty.

Disease and health, like circumstances, are rooted

in thought. Sickly thoughts will express themselves

through a sickly body. Thoughts of fear have been

known to kill a man as speedily as a bullet, and they

are continually killing thousands of people just assurely though less rapidly. The people who live in

fear of disease are the people who get it. Anxiety

quickly demoralizes the whole body, and lays it open

to the, entrance of disease; while impure thoughts,

even if not physically indulged, will soon shatter the

nervous system.

Strong, pure, and happy thoughts build up the body

in vigour and grace. The body is a delicate and

plastic instrument, which responds readily to the

thoughts by which it is impressed, and habits of

thought will produce their own effects, good or bad,

upon it.

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Men will continue to have impure and poisoned

blood, so long as they propagate unclean thoughts.

Out of a clean heart comes a clean life and a clean

body. Out of a defiled mind proceeds a defiled life

and a corrupt body. Thought is the fount of action,

life, and manifestation; make the fountain pure, and

all will be pure.

Change of diet will not help a man who will not

change his thoughts.

When a man makes his thoughts pure, he no longer

desires impure food.

Clean thoughts make clean habits. The so-calledsaint who does not wash his body is not a saint. He

who has strengthened and purified his thoughts does

not need to consider the malevolent microbe.

If you would protect your body, guard your mind.

If you would renew your body, beautify your mind.

Thoughts of malice, envy, disappointment,

despondency, rob the body of its health and grace. Asour face does not come by chance; it is made by

sour thoughts. Wrinkles that mar are drawn by folly,

passion, and pride.

I know a woman of ninety-six who has the bright,

innocent face of a girl. I know a man well under

middle age whose face is drawn into inharmonious

contours. The one is the result of a sweet and sunnydisposition; the other is the outcome of passion and

discontent.

As you cannot have a sweet and wholesome abode

unless you admit the air and sunshine freely into

your rooms, so a strong body and a bright, happy, or



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serene countenance can only result from the free

admittance into the mind of thoughts of joy and

goodwill and serenity.

On the faces of the aged there are wrinkles made

by sympathy, others by strong and pure thought, and

others are carved by passion: who cannot distinguishthem? With those who have lived righteously, age is

calm, peaceful, and softly mellowed, like the setting

sun. I have recently seen a philosopher on his

deathbed. He was not old except in years. He died as

sweetly and peacefully as he had lived.

There is no physician like cheerful thought for

dissipating the ills of the body; there is no comforterto compare with goodwill for dispersing the shadows

of grief and sorrow. To live continually in thoughts

of ill will, cynicism, suspicion, and envy, is to be

confined in a self made prison-hole. But to think well

of all, to be cheerful with all, to patiently learn to

find the good in all-such unselfish thoughts are the

very portals of heaven; and to dwell day by day in

thoughts of peace toward every creature will bringabounding peace to their possessor.

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AS A MAN THINKETH: Thought in achievement


THE THOUGHT-FACTOR IN

ACHIEVEMENT

ALL that a man achieves and all that he fails to

achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts. In a

justly ordered universe, where loss of equipoise

would mean total destruction, individual

responsibility must be absolute. A man's weaknessand strength, purity and impurity, are his own, and

not another man's; they are brought about by himself,

and not by another; and they can only be altered by

himself, never by another. His condition is also his

own, and not another man's. His suffering and his

happiness are evolved from within. As he thinks, so

he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.

A strong man cannot help a weaker unless that

weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the

weak man must become strong of himself; he must,

by his own efforts, develop the strength which he

admires in another. None but himself can alter his

condition.

It has been usual for men to think and to say,

"Many men are slaves because one is an oppressor;

let us hate the oppressor." Now, however, there is

amongst an increasing few a tendency to reverse this

judgment, and to say, "One man is an oppressor

because many are slaves; let us despise the slaves."

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The truth is that oppressor and slave are co-

operators in ignorance, and, while seeming to afflict

each other, are in reality afflicting themselves. A

perfect Knowledge perceives the action of law in the

weakness of the oppressed and the misapplied power

of the oppressor; a perfect Love, seeing the suffering,

which both states entail, condemns neither; a perfectCompassion embraces both oppressor and oppressed.

He who has conquered weakness, and has put away

all selfish thoughts, belongs neither to oppressor nor

oppressed. He is free.

A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve by

lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak,and abject, and miserable by refusing to lift up his

thoughts.

Before a man can achieve anything, even in

worldly things, he must lift his thoughts above

slavish animal indulgence. He may not, in order to

succeed, give up all animality and selfishness, by any

means; but a portion of it must, at least, be sacrificed.A man whose first thought is bestial indulgence

could neither think clearly nor plan methodically; he

could not find and develop his latent resources, and

would fail in any undertaking. Not having

commenced to manfully control his thoughts, he is

not in a position to control affairs and to adopt

serious responsibilities. He is not fit to act

independently and stand alone. But he is limited onlyby the thoughts, which he chooses.

There can be no progress, no achievement without

sacrifice, and a man's worldly success will be in the

measure that he sacrifices his confused animal

thoughts, and fixes his mind on the development of



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his plans, and the strengthening of his resolution and

self-reliance. And the higher he lifts his thoughts, the

more manly, upright, and righteous he becomes, the

greater will be his success, the more blessed and

enduring will be his achievements.

The universe does not favour the greedy, thedishonest, the vicious, although on the mere surface

it may sometimes appear to do so; it helps the honest,

the magnanimous, the virtuous. All the great

Teachers of the ages have declared this in varying

forms, and to prove and know it a man has but to

persist in making himself more and more virtuous by

lifting up his thoughts.

Intellectual achievements are the result of thought

consecrated to the search for knowledge, or for the

beautiful and true in life and nature. Such

achievements may be sometimes connected with

vanity and ambition, but they are not the outcome of

those characteristics; they are the natural outgrowth

of long and arduous effort, and of pure and unselfish

thoughts.

Spiritual achievements are the consummation of

holy aspirations. He who lives constantly in the

conception of noble and lofty thoughts, who dwells

upon all that is pure and unselfish, will, as surely as

the sun reaches its zenith and the moon its full,

become wise and noble in character, and rise into a

position of influence and blessedness.

Achievement, of whatever kind, is the crown of

effort, the diadem of thought. By the aid of self-

control, resolution, purity, righteousness, and well-

directed thought a man ascends; by the aid of

animality, indolence, impurity, corruption, and



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confusion of thought a man descends.

A man may rise to high success in the world, and

even to lofty altitudes in the spiritual realm, and

again descend into weakness and wretchedness by

allowing arrogant, selfish, and corrupt thoughts to

take possession of him.

Victories attained by right thought can only be

maintained by watchfulness. Many give way when

success is assured, and rapidly fall back into failure.

All achievements, whether in the business,

intellectual, or spiritual world, are the result of

definitely directed thought, are governed by the samelaw and are of the same method; the only difference

lies in the object of attainment.

He who would accomplish little must sacrifice

little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice

much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice

greatly.

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AS A MAN THINKETH: Visions and Ideals


VISIONS AND IDEALS

THE dreamers are the saviours of the world. As the

visible world is sustained by the invisible, so men,

through all their trials and sins and sordid vocations,

are nourished by the beautiful visions of their

solitary dreamers. Humanity cannot forget its

dreamers; it cannot let their ideals fade and die; itlives in them; it knows them as they realise which it

shall one day see and know.

Composer, sculptor, painter, poet, prophet, sage,

these are the makers of the after-world, the architects

of heaven. The world is beautiful because they have

lived; without them, labouring humanity would

perish.

He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in

his heart, will one day realize it. Columbus cherished

a vision of another world, and he discovered it;

Copernicus fostered the vision of a multiplicity of

worlds and a wider universe, and he revealed it;

Buddha beheld the vision of a spiritual world of

stainless beauty and perfect peace, and he enteredinto it.

Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish

the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that

forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your

purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all

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delightful conditions, all, heavenly environment; of

these, if you but remain true to them, your world will

at last be built.

To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to, achieve. Shall

man's basest desires receive the fullest measure of

gratification, and his purest aspirations starve forlack of sustenance? Such is not the Law: such a

condition of things can never obtain: "ask and

receive."

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall

you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you

shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what

you shall at last unveil.

The greatest achievement was at first and for a

time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird

waits in the egg; and in the highest vision of the soul

a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of

realities.

Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but theyshall not long remain so if you but perceive an Ideal

and strive to reach it. You cannot travel within and

stand still without. Here is a youth hard pressed by

poverty and labour; confined long hours in an

unhealthy workshop; unschooled, and lacking all the

arts of refinement. But he dreams of better things; he

thinks of intelligence, of refinement, of grace and

beauty. He conceives of, mentally builds up, an idealcondition of life; the vision of a wider liberty and a

larger scope takes possession of him; unrest urges

him to action, and he utilizes all his spare time and

means, small though they are, to the development of

his latent powers and resources. Very soon so altered

has his mind become that the workshop can no



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longer hold him. It has become so out of harmony

with his mentality that it falls out of his life as a

garment is cast aside, and, with the growth of

opportunities, which fit the scope of his expanding

powers, he passes out of it forever. Years later we

see this youth as a full-grown man. We find him a

master of certain forces of the mind, which he wieldswith worldwide influence and almost unequalled

power. In his hands he holds the cords of gigantic

responsibilities; he speaks, and lo, lives are changed;

men and women hang upon his words and remould

their characters, and, sunlike, he becomes the fixed

and luminous centre round which innumerable

destinies revolve. He has realized the Vision of his

youth. He has become one with his Ideal.

And you, too, youthful reader, will realize the

Vision (not the idle wish) of your heart, be it base or

beautiful, or a mixture of both, for you will always

gravitate toward that which you, secretly, most love.

Into your hands will be placed the exact results of

your own thoughts; you will receive that which you

earn; no more, no less. Whatever your presentenvironment may be, you will fall, remain, or rise

with your thoughts, your Vision, your Ideal. You will

become as small as your controlling desire; as great

as your dominant aspiration: in the beautiful words

of Stanton Kirkham Davis, "You may be keeping

accounts, and presently you shall walk out of the

door that for so long has seemed to you the barrier of

your ideals, and shall find yourself before anaudience--the pen still behind your ear, the ink stains

on your fingers and then and there shall pour out the

torrent of your inspiration. You may be driving

sheep, and you shall wander to the city-bucolic and

open-mouthed; shall wander under the intrepid

guidance of the spirit into the studio of the master,



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and after a time he shall say, 'I have nothing more to

teach you.' And now you have become the master,

who did so recently dream of great things while

driving sheep. You shall lay down the saw and the

plane to take upon yourself the regeneration of the

world."

The thoughtless, the ignorant, and the indolent,

seeing only the apparent effects of things and not the

things themselves, talk of luck, of fortune, and

chance. Seeing a man grow rich, they say, "How

lucky he is!" Observing another become intellectual,

they exclaim, "How highly favoured he is!" And

noting the saintly character and wide influence of

another, they remark, "How chance aids him at everyturn!" They do not see the trials and failures and

struggles which these men have voluntarily

encountered in order to gain their experience; have

no knowledge of the sacrifices they have made, of

the undaunted efforts they have put forth, of the faith

they have exercised, that they might overcome the

apparently insurmountable, and realize the Vision of

their heart. They do not know the darkness and theheartaches; they only see the light and joy, and call it

"luck". They do not see the long and arduous

journey, but only behold the pleasant goal, and call it

"good fortune," do not understand the process, but

only perceive the result, and call it chance."

In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are

results, and the strength of the effort is the measureof the result. Chance is not. Gifts, powers, material,

intellectual, and spiritual possessions are the fruits of

effort; they are thoughts completed, objects

accomplished, visions realized.

The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal



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that you enthrone in your heart-this you will build

your life by, this you will become--

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AS A MAN THINKETH: Serenity


SERENITY

CALMNESS of mind is one of the beautiful jewels

of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort

in self-control. Its presence is an indication of

ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary

knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.

A man becomes calm in the measure that he

understands himself as a thought evolved being, for

such knowledge necessitates the understanding of

others as the result of thought, and as he develops a

right understanding, and sees more and more clearly

the internal relations of things by the action of cause

and effect he ceases to fuss and fume and worry andgrieve, and remains poised, steadfast, serene.

The calm man, having learned how to govern

himself, knows how to adapt himself to others; and

they, in turn, reverence his spiritual strength, and feel

that they can learn of him and rely upon him. The

more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his

success, his influence, his power for good. Even theordinary trader will find his business prosperity

increase as he develops a greater self-control and

equanimity, for people will always prefer to deal

with a man whose demeanour is strongly equable.

The strong, calm man is always loved and revered.

He is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a

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sheltering rock in a storm. "Who does not love a

tranquil heart, a sweet-tempered, balanced life? It

does not matter whether it rains or shines, or what

changes come to those possessing these blessings,

for they are always sweet, serene, and calm. That

exquisite poise of character, which we call serenity,

is the calm man, having learned how.

The last lesson of culture; it is the flowering of life,

the fruitage of the soul. It is precious as wisdom,

more to be desired than gold--yea, than even fine

gold. How insignificant mere money seeking looks

in comparison with a serene life--a life that dwells in

the ocean of Truth, beneath the waves, beyond the

reach of tempests, in the Eternal Calm!

How many people we know who sour their lives,

who ruin all that is sweet and beautiful by explosive

tempers, who destroy their poise of character, and

make bad blood! It is a question whether the great

majority of people do not ruin their lives and mar

their happiness by lack of self-control. How few

people we meet in life who are well balanced, whohave that exquisite poise which is characteristic of

the finished character!

Yes, humanity surges with uncontrolled passion, is

tumultuous with ungoverned grief, is blown about by

anxiety and doubt only the wise man, only he whose

thoughts are controlled and purified, makes the

winds and the storms of the soul obey him.

Tempest-tossed souls, wherever ye may be, under

whatsoever conditions ye may live, know this in the

ocean of life the isles of Blessedness are smiling, and

the sunny shore of your ideal awaits your coming.

Keep your hand firmly upon the helm of thought. In

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the bark of your soul reclines the commanding

Master; He does but sleep: wake Him. Self-control is

strength; Right Thought is mastery; Calmness is

power. Say unto your heart, "Peace, be still!"

THE END

3.as a man thinketh

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